I'm a lead guitarist, and I run an erratic amplifier setup- I use A/V equipment to run my guitar through. I love the distinct sounds I can get from it, however, it lacks the growl and smoothness that can only be obtained by pushing tubes. I'll try to describe my setup:

I run my Gibson Les Paul into a J-Station (made by Johnson Amplification); designed to be used for studio recording, it offers the amplifier simulations I amplify through the rest of the setup.

I run this into my receiver, a Pioneer VSX-4800. This was handed down to me, and I may choose to upgrade in the future, but for now it serves its purpose well enough.

My speakers are my setup's bragging rights. I use Realistic Mach Ones- these speakers are killer. They date back to the early 80's- $239 each from Radio Shack. They are liquid cooled, with a frequency response of 25~20,000Hz. Handles 160watts peak, sys. resonance of 65Hz. Crossover @ 1.2kHz and 4.5kHz. Uses a 15" acoustic suspension, 35oz magnet woofer with brass voice coil. Midrange by a mulitcellular ferrofluid-cooled horn midrange speaker. Treble by an extended range high compliance ferrofluid-cooled horn tweeter. Enclosure consists of oiled walnut veneer sealed for bass response.

Anyway, back to the point of this post- I'm asking for suggestions on how to improve my existing setup. What I hope to do is to add a tube preamp in between the J-station and the Pioneer receiver. If anyone can give me some tips, suggestions, etc., I am open to them. Thanks!
~Wes

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A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

That being said, if your J-station is capable of driving your amp to full scale without a preamp, you could consider using one of these as a buffer. Single ended, gain would be about unity, and by playing with B+ and the current sink (just change resistors) you could probably get a range of tube sounds, from pure to starved.